The Ocean's Much Like You
by the Zoshi
Summary: All he wanted was to have that cute, blue-eyed young man all to himself. What he hadn't expected was that the baggage he was going to carry would come from an entirely different direction altogether. - akuroku - -started 2 4 2010-


Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and characters copyright Square Enix and such people. Not me.

A/N:

What is this? What is this, Zo? A new story?

Yes, it is. It is indeed a new story, one that I hope you all will enjoy. This one is dedicated to the ever lovely **Shannello** and **Kusegechan** whom you should all go and love on. LOVE ON THEM.

It's a bit sillier than I usually do, and maybe a little more light-hearted. I don't know, you'll all tell me.

Please? You will tell me, right?

Oh, and look! AkuRoku! No Way! D:

PS: If this is formatted weird, sorry. The Edit/Preview thingie looks all funky when I uploaded it...

Enjoy!

***

Title: The Ocean's Much Like You

Author: theZoshi  
Rating: PG13

Category: Kingdom hearts

Genre: Relationships/Life/Living/

May contain: Shounen-ai/boy-love, drug references, references to sexual things,

***

Chapter 1: There's An Ax in the Dichotomy!

***

_the_ OPEN WATER _is an awful thing_

--

Evening had come in quick and dark, with heavy gray clouds hanging low over the town's roofs and threatening to open up in a downpour at any moment. Station Heights had been bustling earlier, mostly with university students heading back to their respective houses and apartments from the main campus. The bustle had settled down as the evening drew on, and soon there were only a few people gathered in the stations café, waiting for their train to come in. A few of the booths in the back of the café held a person or two, and a few men were sitting at one of the larger tables near the front and discussing something over large steaming cups of coffee. A couple of young men were sitting at a small table near the café window looking out onto the train tracks. The older of the two was a tall and lanky redhead, black bandanna tied tight down on his head in an attempt to keep his unruly spikes in some semblance of order. The younger was shorter, with softly golden blonde hair arranged in rebellious spikes and blazing blue eyes and a slight frown on his face.

"I can't believe you'd actually gone out with that guy," Axel nearly spat, tapping his fingers on the tabletop, a rough staccato in quick-step. He had finished his coffee – black, bitter, no pansy stuff thank you – and he was just ten minutes away from missing the last train to his part of town.

The blond sitting across the small café table from him groaned and dropped his head onto his hands. Axel didn't care, he was too mad with the idea that his appearance at his station that night would lead to another incident like that morning's, which was a repeat of the day before, which had been a repeat of the day before that. The thought that he'd have to go through it, again, just like he had been for the past three months, was enough to make him want to punch someone. Thankfully, the only one near enough was his boyfriend, who he was not, at any time and for any reason, all that eager to punch.

"Axel, can we please not start with this?" Roxas tilted his head up until his eyes peeked over the tips of his fingers, and stared at the redhead pleadingly. Axel looked at him, eyes narrowed and brow wrinkled. There was a long silence, during which the tapping on the table grew progressively louder and faster.

"It's just-" Axel began, and Roxas groaned, pressing his face into his palms again. The redhead didn't seem to notice, or maybe just didn't care. "He just pisses me off so bad! Do you know what he was asking me today? Do you?

"I don't want to know Axel," Roxas answered truthfully, voice muffled.

"He was asking me whether I preferred boxers or briefs," Axel slapped his palms flat onto the table and leaned over it towards the blond. The look in his eyes was bordering on maniacal. "Boxers or briefs, Roxas. Then he told me that he himself prefers neither because they're both too constricting, and that actually, in _his_ opinion, we'd all be better off in kilts."

"Oh god," Roxas muttered.

"In kilts, do you know why we'd be better off in kilts?" Axel's hands clenched upon the tabletop, his voice just barely kept under the yelling threshold.

"Ease of access…" Roxas groaned.

"Ease of access!" Axel exclaimed, passing that threshold and falling back into his chair with a loud thump. A few of the patrons in the café turned to look in their direction. Roxas dropped his hands to the table and gave Axel a long look.

"And you got pissed," The blond said evenly. He was getting used to these conversations, but that didn't make them any easier.

"I got pissed, and I hit him," Axel said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms across his chest and glaring out the café window at the train cars. Roxas's eyes widened and a look of shock crossed his face.

"You what?" He wasn't sure he'd heard what he just heard.

"It wasn't a hit, it was more like a…" Axel shrugged and waved one hand in the air ambiguously. Roxas shook his head and let out a deep sigh.

"You're giving him what he wants." He stated, looking at Axel. The redhead snorted.

"What, physical abuse?" Axel tapped his foot on the floor testily.

"Attention. He wants attention Axel, any kind of attention. Why do you think he's sitting on a train platform all day playing that stupid guitar for people's spare change? He could be going to school or out at a decent job, but he prefers the patronizing pity of strangers to anything that even hints at work," Roxas shakes his head and frowns angrily. "Just ignore him, and without a source of entertainment he'll eventually give up and move on to the next person."

Axel sat in silence, the only sound the rapid tapping of his boot. Roxas sighed, leaning his arms on the table, and gave him a tired grin.

"Your train's about to leave," The blond said, trying to catch the other man's eye. Axel turned to him, green eyes glinting dangerously.

"I'm going to kill him," The redhead said, voice low and sharpened dangerously. Roxas rolled his eyes and grinned a grin that said he'd been there before.

"Please don't," The blond replied, reaching one hand across the table. Axel reached out and grabbed his hand, fingers twining together.

"I'm going to drag him out to the pier, tie some cement blocks to his neck, and drown him," Axel continued, but his voice had lost a little of that sharp edge.

"He might actually like that," Roxas laughed, and Axel snorted. Roxas continued, seeing the redhead didn't believe him. "No, really. He has this freaky, obsessive sort of fascination with the ocean, and really water in general. The beach really gets him going, something about the waves coming in and out."

The bond paused, musing for a moment.

"Told me once he wanted to fuck the ocean," Roxas shrugged and sighed. "Of course, he'd just dropped a tab of acid and was also telling me how he could jump off the clock tower and fly, but he wouldn't because the mother ship hadn't given him his flight path yet, soo…"

Axel laughed, relaxing a little finally. The blond gave him a bright smiled and the redhead grinned back.

"How the hell did you get mixed up with that guy?" Axel shook his head and sighed, leaning forward to take Roxas's hand in both of his.

"I really wish I knew myself," Roxas grimaced, then looked at Axel and raised an eyebrow. "But I think I made a better choice this time around."

"Heh, I think you did too," Axel grinned and leaned over the small table to press a kiss to the blond's lips. Roxas smiled, raising his free hand to run fingers through his boyfriend's messy red spikes.

"You're going to miss your train," Roxas sighed, pulling back and leaving the redhead leaning forward with his elbows on the table. Axel frowned.

"I'll walk," He said, leaning forward to try and catch another kiss. Roxas chuckled and pulled away.

"Eight miles? I don't think so, knowing you, you'll collapse half-way through the second mile and I'll have to pay for a taxi to drive out and pick you up," The blond laughed at his boyfriend's scowl.

"Fine, if you really want me gone that bad," Axel pulled his hands away and stood up, stretching slightly. He checked his watch. "Damn, you're right, I'm gonna be late."

The redhead pulled the strap of his messenger bag over his head and stepped around the table to kiss the blond on the cheek. Roxas grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and looked him in the eyes.

"Hey, try not to kill anyone, okay?" Roxas said, grinning. "I don't think I'd be able to afford the legal fees."

"All right, all right, no killing," Axel rolled his eyes and sighed in disappointment. "I'll try to remember."

"Good," Roxas pressed one last quick kiss against the redhead's lips and pushed him away. "Go, before you really have to walk those eight miles."

Axel grinned and dashed off to catch his train.

****

The night before had been uneventful, thankfully. The morning, however, was a different story.

"Hey Axel, how's it goin'?"

Axel glanced sideways at the cheerfully grinning wannabe-musician who had come to stand next to him. The man's sandy blond hair was styled up into what Axel could only guess was a strange combination of tail-hawk and almost-mullet. It was the only thing about his appearance that seemed to have gotten any attention that day; his gray t-shirt with the strange neon orange cat-in-a-wagon design was wrinkled and looked slept in, and the dark jeans he had on were the same ones he had been wearing for the past two weeks straight. Axel knew because he'd watched the hole in the right knee of the jeans grow progressively larger and more frayed each passing day.

"Fine," Axel replied, pointedly looking away and across the station at a poster on the far wall. Maybe he should try doing that ignoring thing? Maybe it would finally work? Axel hoped he was exuding enough disinterest that the music man would notice and back off.

"Awesome! I'm doing pretty good myself today," The man said. He was practically bubbling with the bubbly, but then, when was he not? Axel wondered what he was on and how much of it he was taking to be in this constant state of near-exhaustive giddiness. "Oh, did you see Roxy? How's he doing?"

Axel grimaced; _Roxy_.

"He's doing good," Annnd Axel was responding. He was pretty certain that this wasn't the way to go about ignoring a person.

"That's great!" The mullethawked man swung the guitar case off of his back and crouched down to zip it open. It was covered in random words and stick-figure drawings, all done with various colored metallic markers. Pulling the flap open, the man pulled out an old acoustic guitar. It looked a little worn in places, but it was obvious the instrument was well taken care of. He continued on conversationally as he flicked the strings and fiddled with the tuning. "You know, I heard it's supposed to rain today."

Axel looked up past the stations small awning and eyed the gathered gray clouds apprehensively. It did look like a rain day. Great; Axel hated the rain. Loathed it, absolutely and entirely. It was a horrible thing and he'd prefer if it kept itself confined to those times of the day when he wasn't out and about, like the night, or never. Never would be good. He scowled darkly.

"Do you have an umbrella? No? That's not an I-have-an-umbrella-on-me kind of expression, so I'll take it as a no," The man grinned up at Axel. The redhead couldn't take it, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. The guy just went on and on and on!

"Demyx!" He snapped.

"Yes?" Said man looked up at him, grinning.

Great. He was supposed to be ignoring him, wasn't he? Axel took a deep breath, looked across the station tracks at the poster again, and tried very hard not to say a thing.

"Do you have an umbrella?" Okay, that didn't work. Axel gave himself a mental kick. He just wasn't an ignoring people kind of guy, he just didn't have it in him to just not notice people. Especially if they were just constantly _there_.

"Nope," Demyx answered cheerfully and turned back to his guitar. He strummed a few chords, looking around the station platform.

"And you're going to sit out here all day again?" Axel asked. He was trying not to sound interested, he really was, but… He had no compassion! He had to tell himself he had no compassion, and maybe then he wouldn't be bothered by the idea of anyone spending the whole day outside in the rain, especially not the superbly-weird junkie ex of his current boyfriend.

"Dunno, probably," The other man shrugged, then looked up at Axel, grinning. Grinning. He was always grinning. "I like the rain. I like it a lot."

Oh, right. The water thing. Axel winced at the thought and tried really hard not to think just how much the man crouched next to him liked the rain. He liked it a lot. Oh god.

"Don't know how many people are gonna be hanging around with maybe being rainy and all," Demyx mused, brows wrinkled a little in thought as he looked up at the clouds. "Probably won't get a lot of playing time in, waters not too good for the ol' gee-tar."

Axel knew what he was getting at – less people plus less playing time meant less change in the 'hawked man's guitar case. Money, what did he need it for? Crack? Maybe. Food? He had to be getting food from somewhere, Axel thought, looking at the other man out of the corner of his eye. He didn't look too skinny, at least, Axel didn't think he did. If he was getting food, then he had to be getting it somewhere… Where did he live? Roxas had never told him, and Axel sure as hell wasn't going to ask the guy himself, but Demyx had to had somewhere to go, didn't he? Maybe he crashed at a friend's place for the night or something. Maybe he crashed on a park bench. Maybe he just crashed.

Axel glared hard at the poster across from him and told himself that he really didn't care where the man was crashing and what he was crashing on, and tried to ignore the pleasant melody rising in the air.

"Shit!" Demyx exclaimed suddenly, jolting Axel from his thoughts of not thinking about… things. The redhead looked down to find the blond digging through the guitar case, which was peculiar in and of itself considering the bag only had two pockets.

"What?" Axel asked, shifting his weight to his other foot.

"Nothing," Demyx laughed, but it was a little bit of a nervous laugh, and he zipped the front pocket of the guitar case back up and put the whole thing aside. Axel frowned down at him, and Demyx looked up at him, grinning again. "No, really, it's nothing. I'm fine."

Axel raised an eyebrow and looked on, unconvinced.

"No, really… I just…" Demyx sighed, rolling his eyes. "I just had some sandwiches, and I forgot them, that's all…"

"Well, why don't you go back and get them?" Axel suggested, putting his hands in his jacket pockets. A strange look came over the other man's face, and he looked down at the platform, one hand straying out to touch the neck of his guitar.

"No, no. I… can't go back right now…" Demyx gave another nervous laugh. Axel frowned – this was new. Demyx shrugged and looked back up at him, all grins again. What the hell was wrong with him? "I'll figure something out."

Axel shrugged, looking out over the platform. There was a grand total of five people out there, it didn't look like any more were coming yet, and… and it was starting to rain. Big, fat drops started falling heavily, splattering against the train rails and onto the platform itself. Demyx reached out quickly and pulled the guitar to his chest, wrapping his arms around it protectively. For a few moments it seemed that this was the worst it could get, then the clouds really let loose in a downpour. The water came cascading down the station awning, and Axel stepped back, grimacing as drops spattered about and jumped at him. He looked over at the blonde; Demyx still held the guitar tightly wrapped in his arms, but he was staring out at the rain looking like he was mentally torn between two decisions.

"What, trying to figure out whether you should save your guitar, or go dance in the rain?" Axel laughed, leaning back against the station railing. Demyx turned to him, beaming.

"Yeah, actually," He grinned, then turned back to watch the water flow onto the platform and tracks. He was getting hit with the backsplash and spray, but he didn't seem to mind.

Axel eyed him thoughtfully for a long moment. He knew what he was going to do, he just wasn't too happy about it. He tried telling himself again -I have no compassion, no compassion, no compassion. It wasn't a good mantra, it just wasn't working at all.

He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and took a few bills out. With a sigh he stepped over to the other man and tapped him on the shoulder, holding the bills out in his hand. Demyx turned around and found himself face to face with the money. He looked up at Axel with a severely confused expression on his face.

"For lunch, or whatever," Axel muttered. He hated himself sometimes, he really did.

"What? Seriously?" Demyx's face lit up and his eyes were shining. He took the money as if it was the first time he'd seen anything like it in his life. "No, seriously? Really?"

"Yes, really, just shut up, it's not that big a deal," Axel grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and turning to look away. God dammit, he didn't have to act so surprised and, and thankful.

"Thanks Axel! I owe you man, I really do," Demyx bubbled cheerfully. Axel glanced back at him; the blond was smiling at him happily. It was raining and the world was gray with clouds but apparently it was all sunshine and flowers in Demyx-land, all because of a few lousy munny.

"Don't worry about it," Axel swallowed thickly and turned to see if his train was coming. Happy over a few munny; he couldn't tell if the blond's reaction was honest, or if it was, as Roxas had told him many times before, just a weaselly conniving act to milk him for more the next time around. He didn't know, and he really didn't want to think about it. He really didn't – but he ended up thinking about it anyway.


End file.
